PHA-Exch> The Lancet: Redemption for the Pope? [with link]

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Vern Weitzel <vern.weitzel at gmail.com>
crossposted from: "[health-vn discussion group]" health-vn at cairo.anu.edu.au


link:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60627-9/fulltext?_eventId=login

The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9669, Page 1054, 28 March 2009
Adoi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60627-9Cite or Link Using DOI

Redemption for the Pope?

The Lancet

The Vatican felt the heat from an unprecedented amount of international
condemnation last week after Pope Benedict XVI made an outrageous and wildly
inaccurate statement about HIV/AIDS. On his first visit to Africa, the Pope
told
journalists that the continent's fight against the disease is a problem that
“cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms: on the contrary, they
increase it”.

The Catholic Church's ethical opposition to birth control and support of
marital
fidelity and abstinence in HIV prevention is well known. But, by saying that
condoms exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS, the Pope has publicly distorted
scientific evidence to promote Catholic doctrine on this issue.

The international community was quick to condemn the comment. The
governments of
Germany, France, and Belgium released statements criticising the Pope's
views.
Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, called the
comment
“irresponsible and dangerous”. UNAIDS, the UN Population Fund, and WHO
released
an updated position statement on HIV prevention and condoms, which said that
“the male latex condom is the single, most efficient, available technology
to
reduce the sexual transmission of HIV”. Amidst the fury, even the Vatican
tried
to alter the pontiff's wording. On the Holy See's website, the Vatican's
head of
media, Father Federico Lombari, quoted the Pope as having said that there
was a
“risk that condoms…might increase the problem”.

Whether the Pope's error was due to ignorance or a deliberate attempt to
manipulate science to support Catholic ideology is unclear. But the comment
still stands and the Vatican's attempts to tweak the Pope's words, further
tampering with the truth, is not the way forward. When any influential
person,
be it a religious or political leader, makes a false scientific statement
that
could be devastating to the health of millions of people, they should
retract or
correct the public record. Anything less from Pope Benedict would be an
immense
disservice to the public and health advocates, including many thousands of
Catholics, who work tirelessly to try and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS
worldwide.
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